Arpa-E Act of 2018

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5906, the ARPA-E Act of 2018.

After years of successes and several independent assessments praising ARPA-E's work, this bill is a welcomed development. It preserves the mission and flexibility of the Agency while enabling it to consider funding projects or technologies that can address DOE's monumental and longstanding challenge of environmental cleanup at the legacy sites of the Manhattan Project.

It also includes language from a bipartisan ARPA-E Reauthorization Act that our committee's ranking member, Ms. Johnson, introduced last year, which would ensure that sensitive business information collected by the Agency remains protected. This will enable even greater private sector engagement in its programs.

The ARPA-E projects have attracted more than $2.6 billion in private sector follow-on funding. Mr. Speaker, 71 projects have formed new companies, and 109 have gone on to partner with other government agencies to further their research.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Lucas and Chairman Smith for embracing ARPA-E's innovative model and joining our Members in supporting its reauthorization. I support this bill and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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Mr. VEASEY.

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